Valiance
07-25-2009, 07:58 AM
This was my second suggestion to the Gamemaster.
This suggestion comes essentially from the desire to have character who relies on magic as little as possible. I'm not sure if you remember my past ideas about a "First Aid" or "Intuition" skill that would let you heal yourself without the Restoration power. Well, I've been thinking....
I was rolling stats for a new character, I don't know why I was, but I was. As I was doing this, I noticed something, and saw it in a completely new light. You know full-well that if you have your Spirit, Aura, and Mind skills at a certain level, you can start with a magical ability. Suddenly, I got an idea, one which would really make characters much more diverse. What if there was something similar for warrior characters. Skill sets which made combat much more than clicking attack options and hoping your specific weaponry skill gives you a bonus. I was thinking, what if you made a whole new set of abilities called "Techniques".
Let me explain my idea a bit more. These "Techniques" are essentially advanced combat maneuvers that can have many different effects. They function just like powers do in combat, you select when to use them in combat just like you do any powers. For the sake of organization, if this idea is employed, you might want to create a third drop-down box "Select a Technique to Use". The techniques could have a wide variety of effects, like magical powers. Like powers, they could be leveled up with experience, their effects becoming more potent and reliable the higher in level they are. And because the maneuvers are tricky and tiring, they would drain your nevernal reserves, just like magic would, so it's not some free boost, it's actually a tactical decision. Just like a spell can fizzle in combat, a technique can fail, but it would use your Body score to recover, instead of your Spirit score. And because they are difficult and tricky, just like using powers, it would make it more difficult to have a successful round against your enemy when using them. (I am not sure if using a power in combat increases your enemy's melee rating or decreases your own, but whatever it is, it would apply to these techniques as well.)
I suppose you could do it another way, but the idea is to give warriors 'powers' of their own, without magic. Hence, nevernal reserve would seem like the logical method of making sure that the techniques are not abused and used over and over again.
Like powers, a character could start with one technique, and learn others throughout the course of their adventure. In order to start with a technique, the character would need to meet certain prerequisites in their stats. Just like you need to have high enough Aura, Mind, and Spirit scores, you would need to have high enough rolls in certain stats to start with these techniques. The one really big difference in techniques and powers, is that no technique can ever be a higher level than your Weaponry or Unarmed Combat skills.
Here's some examples of possible techniques that could be implemented.
Battle Insight: Raises your melee rating for that round. Higher levels mean a larger increase in melee rating and a better chance for success. Unlike other techniques, using this technique would not make you need to roll higher than usual to have a successful round of combat, since the entire point of this is to make it so you need to roll lower. If used consecutively round after round, the chances of this technique failing would increase.
Enhanced Reflexes: Gives you a possibility to completely dodge your enemy's attack that round, much like the nimble ring does. Higher levels mean a better chance at dodging your enemy's attack. Using most any technique consecutively will increase its chances for failure, but this one is especially likely to fail if used too often in one fight.
Counter Attack: This is something of a gamble. This only works if the enemy gets the upper hand in the round you used it. In the round after you used it, if you then gain the upper hand on the enemy, you deal normal damage, PLUS a portion of the damage the enemy dealt to you in the last round. Higher levels mean a better chance of success and a higher portion of damage dealt back. If the enemy gains the advantage in the round after you used Counter Attack, the technique fails. (Damage from special attack included or not included at your (The Gamemaster's) discretion)
Debilitate Enemy: Think of this like the special attack of a Witherer. With this technique, you attempt to reduce your enemy's melee rating. This too, is something of a gamble. This technique only works if you gained the upper hand on your enemy in the round. If the technique works, the enemy's melee rating drops. If the enemy gets the upper hand on you on the round you try to debilitate them, you suffer extra damage. Higher levels mean a higher chance of successfully using this technique and lowering the enemy's melee rating by more points. (Note: I don't know whether or not the effect should last the entire fight or a few rounds, I suppose that would be up to you if you decide to implement these ideas)
I....THINK that covers most of the details about my idea.
The above examples were just a few ideas, you're welcome to ask me about this idea if you'd like to go any further into them. But that is my idea. I think I covered most of the technicalities of it.
What is your opinion on this, Dear Gamemaster?
Again, was wondering, what did people here think?
This suggestion comes essentially from the desire to have character who relies on magic as little as possible. I'm not sure if you remember my past ideas about a "First Aid" or "Intuition" skill that would let you heal yourself without the Restoration power. Well, I've been thinking....
I was rolling stats for a new character, I don't know why I was, but I was. As I was doing this, I noticed something, and saw it in a completely new light. You know full-well that if you have your Spirit, Aura, and Mind skills at a certain level, you can start with a magical ability. Suddenly, I got an idea, one which would really make characters much more diverse. What if there was something similar for warrior characters. Skill sets which made combat much more than clicking attack options and hoping your specific weaponry skill gives you a bonus. I was thinking, what if you made a whole new set of abilities called "Techniques".
Let me explain my idea a bit more. These "Techniques" are essentially advanced combat maneuvers that can have many different effects. They function just like powers do in combat, you select when to use them in combat just like you do any powers. For the sake of organization, if this idea is employed, you might want to create a third drop-down box "Select a Technique to Use". The techniques could have a wide variety of effects, like magical powers. Like powers, they could be leveled up with experience, their effects becoming more potent and reliable the higher in level they are. And because the maneuvers are tricky and tiring, they would drain your nevernal reserves, just like magic would, so it's not some free boost, it's actually a tactical decision. Just like a spell can fizzle in combat, a technique can fail, but it would use your Body score to recover, instead of your Spirit score. And because they are difficult and tricky, just like using powers, it would make it more difficult to have a successful round against your enemy when using them. (I am not sure if using a power in combat increases your enemy's melee rating or decreases your own, but whatever it is, it would apply to these techniques as well.)
I suppose you could do it another way, but the idea is to give warriors 'powers' of their own, without magic. Hence, nevernal reserve would seem like the logical method of making sure that the techniques are not abused and used over and over again.
Like powers, a character could start with one technique, and learn others throughout the course of their adventure. In order to start with a technique, the character would need to meet certain prerequisites in their stats. Just like you need to have high enough Aura, Mind, and Spirit scores, you would need to have high enough rolls in certain stats to start with these techniques. The one really big difference in techniques and powers, is that no technique can ever be a higher level than your Weaponry or Unarmed Combat skills.
Here's some examples of possible techniques that could be implemented.
Battle Insight: Raises your melee rating for that round. Higher levels mean a larger increase in melee rating and a better chance for success. Unlike other techniques, using this technique would not make you need to roll higher than usual to have a successful round of combat, since the entire point of this is to make it so you need to roll lower. If used consecutively round after round, the chances of this technique failing would increase.
Enhanced Reflexes: Gives you a possibility to completely dodge your enemy's attack that round, much like the nimble ring does. Higher levels mean a better chance at dodging your enemy's attack. Using most any technique consecutively will increase its chances for failure, but this one is especially likely to fail if used too often in one fight.
Counter Attack: This is something of a gamble. This only works if the enemy gets the upper hand in the round you used it. In the round after you used it, if you then gain the upper hand on the enemy, you deal normal damage, PLUS a portion of the damage the enemy dealt to you in the last round. Higher levels mean a better chance of success and a higher portion of damage dealt back. If the enemy gains the advantage in the round after you used Counter Attack, the technique fails. (Damage from special attack included or not included at your (The Gamemaster's) discretion)
Debilitate Enemy: Think of this like the special attack of a Witherer. With this technique, you attempt to reduce your enemy's melee rating. This too, is something of a gamble. This technique only works if you gained the upper hand on your enemy in the round. If the technique works, the enemy's melee rating drops. If the enemy gets the upper hand on you on the round you try to debilitate them, you suffer extra damage. Higher levels mean a higher chance of successfully using this technique and lowering the enemy's melee rating by more points. (Note: I don't know whether or not the effect should last the entire fight or a few rounds, I suppose that would be up to you if you decide to implement these ideas)
I....THINK that covers most of the details about my idea.
The above examples were just a few ideas, you're welcome to ask me about this idea if you'd like to go any further into them. But that is my idea. I think I covered most of the technicalities of it.
What is your opinion on this, Dear Gamemaster?
Again, was wondering, what did people here think?